Jafaru Sougie, 49, from Edo State, allegedly killed his wife of 26 years yesterday at Araromi Street, Oshodi, Lagos State. Roseline, 46, was a trader and the breadwinner of the family as Jafaru was jobless. He had serially assaulted Roseline, a mother-of-five, on the grounds of being unfaithful.
He also reportedly beat her for collecting gifts from her relatives for the upkeep of the family. Their child, Richmond, 16, said: “My 3 siblings, our aunt and I slept in the living room while dad and mum were inside. Around 4am, dad called me from the bathroom.
I went to meet him but he did not say anything. I went outside to urinate and when I came back, I checked the bathroom and saw him lying down, vomiting some black substance and excreting on his body. I think he poisoned himself. I told my aunt to wake mum up to attend to him.
But she didn’t wake up. I shone a flashlight on her and saw blood on the bed with a wide cut in her neck. I fainted when we discovered she was dead. It was mum that took care of us. She was the one sponsoring my elder brother, Collins, who just gained admission into a university in Abia State.
I don’t know our fate now. The landlord of our former rented house sent us out because dad always quarrelled with mum. We were also sent away from another house for the same reason.” The aunt, Veronica Imomoh, who confirmed the assault, said: “Our family had warned him to stop beating her.
He didn’t have any work. Yesterday (Thursday) he demanded N10,000 from the wife, saying he wanted to travel. She was trying to raise the money from her friends.” A neighbour, Simeon Nnoron, said he had tried to prevail over Jafaru to stop assaulting the deceased to no avail, adding that he suspected he was on drug and wanted to use the woman for rituals.
Roselin’s elder sister, Kate Yakubu, said she had wanted to divorce the husband two years ago but her family enjoined her to rescind the decision, because of the children. The Deputy spokesperson, Lagos State Police Command, DSP Damasus Ozoani, said Jafaru had been transferred to the State CID for further investigation.
